Mein Kamphy Kouch
by Curse of the Coffin
Summary: A strange story on Myotismon's past, the life and tragedy of a Neo-Nazi, Soviet-socialist controlled family, a dimension hopping dandy digimon prince, and an eccentric old reverend with contempt for both worlds. Hi-jinks ensue.
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own Digimon. Nor do I own Johnny Got His Gun, All Quiet on the Western Front, nor the myriads of other stuff I made bad references to. This is stupid. Now enjoy it._

_**1**_

She couldn't wait to be like dad. She couldn't wait to have tall, shiny, black jackboots like those that he had, and she couldn't wait to have a nice uniform like the one he had. She couldn't wait to march alongside him, carrying a flag up in the air just like he did.

It made her happy to see him like that.

_**2**_

She didn't know where she was. Moving carefully, she pushed her way through the bushes. It was dark. She couldn't see. She stumbled on the twigs and rocks and she fell down.

"Fenri!" she cried. Turning her head up, she looked up above. There was sun, yet it shed no light. There were too many trees blocking it out. She couldn't even look ahead. Carefully, she pushed herself up and began to inch forward.

After forcing herself through all that darkness, she finally came to a stop. There was light ahead. Running toward the sunlight, past all the bushes, she smiled, hoping that with the light, she would get an idea of where she was.

When she walked into the sunlight, she felt scared. It wasn't of any help to her, for it showed her nothing that she wanted to see. No, she still had no idea where she was. And she had no idea how she even got here. She was lost. And she was alone.

"Fenri!" she screamed again. Somehow, she knew her brother was around somewhere. She couldn't have gotten lost by herself. No, Fenri must have gotten lost, too. And Franz.

"I'm over here, Rochelle!" She heard his voice. It seemed to come from nowhere, as if it was only in her ears, her head. Maybe it wasn't really there. Maybe it was. Either way, she wasn't going to find it soon. It sounded too far away, yet she knew it was there. He was just as lost as she was.

She continued to walk forward since that was closest to where she thought his voice was coming from. Being in the sun after being in the dark for so long was really putting a strain on her eyes and it took her a moment to get used to the light. The landscape she was walking on was very odd. It had gone from a forest to a grassy plain almost immediately. She lived in the city, herself, yet she couldn't imagine that trees just vanish out of sight like that, and then appear ahead in different directions, like patches on the ground. As odd as she thought it was, she convinced herself that she didn't know anything about trees and rocks and such and should therefore not give it too much thought. She should be focusing on finding Fenri and Franz.

She continued to walk until she was very tired. Yet she couldn't stop anywhere. No, not here. It wasn't safe, at least, it couldn't be. Every so often, she heard something rustling in the bushes. It must have been an animal of some sort and if she stopped, it would be easy for an animal to get her. No, she decided she wasn't going to stop until she found somewhere safe. Somewhere safe with Fenri and Franz.

But after a few more hours, she knew she had to stop. She couldn't go any farther and it was getting dark. She got on her knees for a moment, still rather alert.

Later, her body fell forward, exhausted. She was about to fall asleep when she felt someone tap her shoulder. "Wake up, Rochelle," he said. "Wake up, I found Fenri. Come on."

_**3**_

Whatever the creature was, it blinked at her. She blinked right back at it. "What did you say this was, Fenri?" She asked.

"This is Penguinmon," Fenri answered, sitting on the ground next to it.

"Penguinmon," she repeated. "What is a Penguinmon?"

"He can talk, too, you know," he answered. "Ask him."

"Okay." She turned to Penguinmon. He squawked attentively and happily and she smiled. "Okay, Penguinmon, what are you exactly?"

He yawned. "I am a Digimon," he chirped. "You three don't know what that is, don't you?" He flapped his wings and picked at his wing with his beak. "Well, we're all that you're gonna run into here." Rochelle looked at Fenri, confused, and then back at Penguinmon. "You don't know where 'here' is either, don't you?"

She shook her head.

Penguinmon stood up, and she was surprised that as large as he seemed sitting, he wasn't very tall standing. It was almost as if he was taller sitting down than he was standing up. He seemed rather impatient, as if he couldn't belive how stupid they were. "'Here' is the Digital World, at least that's what I have been told.

"The Digital World?" She repeated. She moved her eyes around and looked at their surroundings. It seemed like it could be like any other place in the woods, had it not been for the large talking purple penguin. For a second, she tried to gather her thoughts. The Digital World, she thought, where or what is this place?

Looking over at Fenri, she could tell that he was just as confused as she was. Then she turned her attention to Franz, who, unfortunately, had the same look on his face as Fenri. Then finally, she looked back at Penguinmon, who by this time had gotten tired of waiting for them to answer, and began to pick at his feathers again.

After a moment, Franz spoke up. "Well, how did we get here?" he asked.

"Here?" Penguinmon replied. "Well, I found Fenri and then we found you and then her," He pointed his beak at Rochelle. "And then we brought you two-"

"No, not _here_," Franz interrupted. "I mean this place. The Digital World or whatever, I mean."

"Well, that I don't know. For a moment I thought you three were just weird looking digimon but then when you all gave me that look, I knew you had to be something else. And what else is there, I asked myself."

"You're all humans, right?" They nodded. "I knew it. I've heard of humans before, and of the human world, but I wasn't sure a place like that really existed." He shut his eyes and chirped happily. "Well, now I know."

"But," Fenri stared.

"Hmmm?" Penguinmon asked.

"So you have no idea _at all_ on how we came here?"

"Did you say human world?" Rochelle finally spoke up. "That means this is another world entirely?"

"From your own, yes."

Her eyes widened, for she couldn't believe what the strange creature was telling her. It had to be a lie. It just had to. There couldn't be any such things as different worlds, could there? And why have they heard of them when she herself had no idea what a Digimon was?

She became nervous. If this was an entirely different world, what was going to happen to them? They didn't know anything about it and nothing looks too much like anything they had ever seen before. Not even the forests because they never were in any forests.

Penguinmon's house looked like a little hut. He must be smarter than just any animal. Maybe all the Digimon were like this. Maybe, she hoped, they were all like people. And maybe they could find a way home for them.

"But then again, I could be wrong," Penguimon reminded them. "But probably not."

She had been meaning to ask Fenri where and how he came across Penguimon, but she decided to wait for a more appropriate time. Confused, she sat, trying to be as patient as possible. It was then at the moment when she began to feel tired again and yawned. Then she began to wonder what she would do next, and then later, and then the next day and so forth if they were in some completely different world.

Deciding that she didn't want to think about that right now, she looked over to Fenri and Franz. They were looking back at her.

"So, what now?" she asked. They shrugged.

"Well why go anywhere when you can stay here?" Penguinmon asked. "I don't mind."

"You don't?" Fenri asked. "Well, okay, I guess. At least until we find are way back." Penguinmon nodded.

Franz agreed, and she went along with them, seeing as there really wasn't any other option. "Good, good," Penguinmon said. "Then it's settled."

Later that night she stayed awake while the others slept. Her mind was too wrapped around other things for her to even think about sleeping. Not that she didn't want to sleep. Her body was exhausted and it ached. She didn't want to be thinking about everything, but she couldn't stop. She stared at the ceiling of the little hut, shivering from the cold air that passed through the woven walls of the hut and lay on the soft dirt, hoping to fall asleep soon.

She huddled by Franz and Fenri, who lay asleep against the walls and shut her eyes.

As the hours passed, she fell asleep.

_**4**_

They all woke up late into the morning the next day. The sun was already shining high in the sky as they crept out of the little door of the hut. Rays of brilliant sunshine shone through the leaves of the enormous trees above them, shining on the ground in little patches. Though she wasn't used to seeing anything like this, she thought it was beautiful. In fact, she was so amazed that she failed to hear as Fenri called her name.

"Rochelle, look at this," he called, standing behind Penguinmon's little hut. She looked over, and was surprised to see a whole little village of huts that looked similar to Penguinmon's. They were all gathered together cozily and little by little, small creatures came out from them. She assumed they were digimon, too.

"Oh wow," she gasped. She couldn't believe she was right. So these creatures were rather intelligent. Curiosity overtook her and she wanted to find out more. She hadn't noticed any of it last night; it was too dark. Now with the sun out she could see everything clearly. Walking carefully, she followed Penguinmon into the little village.

"Why do you live all the way out here?" Fenri asked.

"I'm the welcome wagon," Penguinmon explained. "I help newcomers around." He paused and turned to them, smiling. "Welcome, welcome."

Franz groaned. "Let's go already."

"Alright, alright. Well, let's hurry up then."

As they went in, she saw a couple of strange looking frog-like creatures. They were bright green in color with something that almost looked like a tuba of sorts around their little bodies. She stared at them, and then to a group of turtle looking digimon and then finally to the very green penguin that was guiding them and she realized how they stood out. "What are those?" she asked, almost nervously.

"Those are Geckomon," Penguinmon said as he waved to the frogs. "And the others are Kamemon."

"So you all don't have names?" she asked.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, that group over there, the ones you called Geckomon, are they all called Geckomon, or do they have separate names?"

"I'm not sure, actually. See those Geckomon are always together, so I suppose there is no need for them to have separate names. I believe we do the same for those Kamemon as well. It's a rather thoughtful arrangement."

"I guess so," she sighed. "So where are you taking us?"

"To the village square."

"For what?" Fenri asked, catching up to Penguinmon and Rochelle.

"I must tell them what have found. I have found you three. No one here has ever seen a human before. It'll be quite an event, believe me." he explained.

"I'm not so sure about that," Franz muttered.

"Oh, calm down, you," Penguinmon chirped. "Nothing bad will happen to you." He stopped. "Well, here we are."

They stopped at what looking like the very center of the village. She could tell by seeing as that particular spot was empty except for something that looking like a stand of sorts and that the other digimon all seemed to be walking around it, keeping the spot rather clear.

"Now, follow me. Over to that stand," Penguinmon ordered. And they did. The stand was made out of rock and was so small that there was no way the three of them could really stand on it. Franz, who must have realized this before they even reached it, stayed down.

"It's too small. I'll stay here," he explained to Penguinmon. Franz was fourteen and much too wide to stand with her and Fenri, who were only a little over seven.

"Suit yourself, but stay where we'll see you," he squawked. Turning around to face the cluster of digimon that surrounded them, he flapped his wings and called out to get their attention. "Everyone! Everyone, I have an announcement!"

Some of the digimon turned to him attentively. Others continued to go about their way. "Everyone!" he screeched. "Listen up!" This time, all of them stopped and stared. He gathered himself for a moment and then waddled closer to the crowd of digimon. "Last night," he began, "as I was making my merry way back to my home after a day of benefiting the village, I came across something, but it was not a _something_ as I later found out, but a _someone_. Yes, yes, I was surprised to discover a _human_ boy wandering helplessly about in the forest.

"Like any good citizen, from the very kindness of my heart I decided to take him in with me, seeing as I might have helped him find his way back later."

She looked at her brother, who was looking rather annoyed. The crowed was filled with amused noises and she could feel them staring at her.

"But as I asked him his name, where he was from and where he might be going, he cried that he was lost and that there were others like him lost somewhere in our forest as well. I helped him look and after a few hours we found this bigger one, another _human_ boy," he continued. "And after that we found a human _girl._"

She looked down to her feet to avoid the stares. She began to feel very shy and embarrassed. All this strange attention was making her feel rather awkward. As she heard them all ooh and ah she wanted nothing more but to hide from the crowd back into the dark forest.

Before Penguimon could go any further, many of the digimon began to blurt out questions, all of them coming from strange disgust and their genuine curiosity. "But what are they doing here?" one of them asked.

One of the Gekomon asked, "What can they do?"

"How long are they staying?"

"What do they eat?"

"Where are they from?"

"What are their names? Do they have names?"

At this last question, which was asked by other strange looking digimon with long ears, Penguimon lit up. "I am glad you asked me this question, Terriermon, my dear comrade. They call this boy, this one with the black hair who is small like us, Fenri, I believe." He turned to Fenri. "That is your name, right?" Fenri nodded and said nothing more.

"Yes, he is Fenri."

"What a funny name!" Terriermon laughed. "Now what about the other two?"

"Hmmm." Penguinmon paused for a moment. "Let me ask them." He turned his body back to them, mainly to Rochelle and Franz and asked for their names. "I see. Well, comrades, they tell me that this boy who is tall with bright yellow hair is Franz, and this girl who looks like Fenri is named Rochelle."

"Why not just call her Fenri, then?" one of the Kamemon asked. "She looks like a Fenri."

"I'm not a Fenri. That's a boy's name," she said, breaking her silence. "I'm a girl and my name is Rochelle. I only look like Fenri because we're twins."

"What is a twin then?" another digimon asked. "I don't think we have those here. Do we?"

"Maybe we do, comrades," said yet another digimon. This one was a short, wide thing that looked very much like a mushroom. "After all, don't our fellow comrades Palmon and Auroramon look alike?"

"Greetings, Mushrommon, dear comrade!" Penguinmon shouted enthusiastically. "Have you seen what I have found?

"Yes, yes, my dear Penguinmon," Mushroommon continued. "I see, you." He began to come closer to them. "This is quite a discovery, comrade. Now tell me," he looked at her and Franz closely, inspecting every detail of their faces. "What exactly do you plan on doing with them?"

"That is why I have brought them to you all, so we can all decide on what should be done," Penguinmon offered. "I would not make any decision that I feel would not benefit the village in some way and at this time, I regret to tell you, my dear comrade, I could not think of anything."

"Since we all strive on our decision making, aiming for that greater good, I alone can not make that decision, would you, Mushroommon?"

"And you were right to do that, "Mushroommon smiled. "Luckily, for all of us, I have planned for this sort of situation."

"You have?"

"Yes. You should all be happy to have such a prepared elder," Mushroommon beamed. "Now, you three, come here please. You too, comrade."

She and Fenri came off the stand and followed Franz and Penguinmon closer to Mushroommon. There was something about him that reminded her of Haie, who was probably waiting for them back home. Even he must be worried sick, seeing as they've been gone for a whole day.

"Doesn't he remind you of Haie?" she whispered to her brother quietly.

"No, not really. Why?" he said back. She didn't reply back.

"Now, you three. Why have you come to our forest?" Mushroommon asked. "I hear you were lost. Where exactly did you get lost from?"

Fenri fiddled with his hands nervously. "I don't even know," he offered. "All I remember is that I was running around outside of Haie's house when a light showed up. I didn't follow it; I tried to get away but it kept coming closer and closer to me and it got brighter and brighter until I couldn't see anymore so I couldn't be going inside anymore," He stopped to gather his thoughts. "I remember Rochelle and Franz were with me, and when I got here, I was asleep and by myself. When I got up, I was here and I began to walk around. Then he found me. " He pointed to Penguinmon.

"What about you two?"

"Pretty much the same," Franz said. He looked over to her. "Right?"

She nodded.

"I see," Mushroommon said pensively. "Now what is a 'Haie'? Is he the same as you?"

Before either of them could say anything, Franz broke in, "He's another human, if that's what you mean."

"Yes, yes. Well that makes sense," Mushroommon went on. "And now, I think I have come up with a solution that will make us all happy."

"What is it, comrade?" Penguinmon asked.

"You will take them home, or at least away from here-"

"_Me?_ Why _me?"_

"_-_so that the rest of the village may be safe. It's a small price to pay, but you will be greatly benefiting the village. It is for the greater good."

Penguinmon's eyes were wide with shock. Rochelle stood back, wondering what was happening and where Penguinmon was going to take them. She became nervous, and then, falling over her like a shadow, she felt sad. In her terror, she longed for her dad to be here. Her dad, with his flags and jackboots and strength and unbreakable confidence would surely be enough to stop these monsters. He wouldn't let this happen to her. It didn't even have to be her dad; it could have been Haie, who was probably home worried sick about them, trying to think of what to say to her dad and mom and Uncle Otto when they came for them. Maybe it already happened. It must have.

"There's nothing to worry about, Penguinmon, my dear comrade. From what we hear about human children, they're really not much to worry about. You will most likely come home in a few days." Mushroommon told him. "But either way, you must be careful. As you already know, everyone in our village is equal; each member is as equal as the others with no exceptions. Even me and you; our positions do not mean much-"

"Where are you headed with this?" Franz interrupted.

"As I was saying," Mushroommon went on, "Penguinmon, after you return, you will either do your best to forget their customs, or simply keep them to yourself. That is to say, if they have any. If they give you anything, you must not accept it; you are not allowed to have anything that we don't have or may need. Also, if they know of something that we don't, which I doubt, you must inform of this immediately if it concerns the well-being of the village."

"Uhhhh…" Penguinmon groaned, trying to take in everything he was just told.

"Will you do this?"

"Yes. Yes, I'll do that."

"Good."

She blinked, wondering if this meant that she might possibly get home soon. She didn't want to be in this strange place any longer

"But before you go, I would like for you to take someone with you," Mushroommon droned on. He turned around, waddling over back to the crowd of staring digimon. "Wait here, comrades."

After about a minute or so, Mushroommon came back. He was being followed by another very strange looking creature that was obviously another digimon. This particular creature was a small one; it looked like a candle and even had a little flame coming from its head. "Take Candlemon with you as well." She heard him call out. A few seconds later, both of the digimon had caught up with them.

"Candlemon?" Penguinmon sounded offended. "Why should I take Candlemon with me?"

"So that he may be of use," Mushroommon explained. "He does nothing but stand around idly by and does nothing that might benefit the village."

"Oh, I see."

"And while you are at it, I want you to take this with you," Mushroomon handed Penguin on a small device. It was blue in color and looked a bit like a watch. "I do not know what this is, so if you can, figure out where it came from. Only if you can, but just get rid of it."

"Okay..." said Penguinmon slowly as he reached for the strange object. He was obviously overwhelmed by everything he was being ordered to do. As soon as Mushroommon turned around, he stuck tongue out at him in disrespect.

A little while later, as they were getting ready to leave, they were surrounded by the same crowd of digimon. They all stood around them, waving and saying their farewells to both Peguinmon and Candlemon. She found them surrounded by a sea of good lucks and see you later comrades. She couldn't wait to be out of the village.

But just then, a small fuzzy creature with a little plump body and red ears ran toward them, shouting and crying at Penguinmon. As it came closer, she could see that it was a little dog looking thing. Desperately, he barked at Penguinmon. "What's the matter, my little comrade?"

"Don't go! Don't go!" cried the little digimon. "No, no the monster's going to get you!"

She froze. What monster?

Penguinmon came closer to him, placing his wings on his little body, embracing him. "Don't worry about me, little Shoamon. I'll be back. You should be more worried about it coming here."

"No! No!" screamed Shoamon. "I don't want it to come here!"

"Than stay by the others and don't come out when it's dark. Stay inside," Penguinmon ordered. "Don't worry about me. If I keep moving, he won't come after me."

Shoamon continued to whimper, but Penguinmon turned his attention back towards her, Fenri and Franz. "Come on now, let's go."

"What about that other guy that's supposed to come with us?" Franz asked.

"Oh, yes. Candlemon. Now where did he run off to?"

"Here I am, comrades!" She heard Candlemon calling to them, making his way to them as fast as he could. He hopped along toward them, his little flame bobbing up and down along him. As he did, the flame reached up towards the grassy roofs of a hut, setting it on fire.

He hadn't realized this until little Shoamon yapped very loudly, grabbing everyone's attention. "Stop! Stop! Mushroommon! Your house is on fire!"

Immediately, Mushroommon gasped and to his hut as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Help me, comrades!"

"Mushroommon! Do you want me to help you?" Asked Penguinmon, who was just as shocked as he was.

"No!" Mushroommon shouted, trying to fan out the flames before it spread. "Just take Candlemon and get out!"


	2. Chapter 2

Note: _Let's rev up those fryers! This is where stuff finally starts happening. Again, I don't own all the shit I make bad references to. COMMUNIST DIGIMON!_

She couldn't believe that she had gotten lost again.

Running frantically, she searched for Fenri, Franz, and even Penguinmon. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been so dark. She could see dim orange light shining through the thick branches of the trees. Again, it was getting dark and cold. She needed to find them quickly.

"Fenri! Franz!" she cried, trying her best to hold back the tears that were forming in the back of her eyes. Tripping on a rock, she fell, scraping her knee.

She began to cry, sitting herself down on the ground and trying to see how much damage her knee had gotten. She carefully moved her ruffled, wrinkled skirt and rubbed her knee, her eyes stinging with hot tears.

In the dim light, she saw, as her eyes began to clear up, another small creature standing behind a bush, watching her. At first, she jumped in surprise and let out a little yelp, and the creature did the same. She stood quickly, and looked at it again. It was another Digimon, she assumed. Upon looking at it a second time, she realized how non-threatening and almost cute it looked, even if it did appear to be a gigantic black bat.

Gathering up all her courage, she called out to it. "H-Hello?" she greeted.

The Digimon blinked.

She tried again. "Hello."

It didn't move, and instead continued to stare straight at her. She could tell it understood her. Somehow, she could just tell. "Can you talk?"

It moved its large, yellow eyes so that it met hers, and just as quickly, it looked away shyly. It began to open its mouth, as if to speak, but was interrupted before it could say anything.

"Bear Claw!" she heard something growl, and suddenly out of nowhere, a large bear-like Digimon jumped right in front of her. She screamed and jumped out of its way just as it was about to strike her with its paws. It went after her, and she continued to run as fast as her little legs could carry her.

The pain in her knee made running unbearable, and she could almost feel her skin tearing with every stride. She could almost feel the bear's hot breath running down her neck as she searched for anywhere to lose it.

"Fenri!" she screamed. "Someone help me!"

Eventually, she came to a dead end. An enormous tree blocked her way, and she stood right in between the bear and the tree. Fear overcame her and she almost fainted. She felt shaky and sobbed in horror as it came closer and closer towards her. The bear raised its paw and swung at her. She immediately covered her face with her two clammy palms and whimpered.

To her great surprise, however, the bear did not strike her and instead it let out a pained roar. Carefully, she moved her fingers and looked up to see what was happening. It looked as if something invisible had taken the bear's entire left arm and was pulling it back and over its head. It looked very painful, she thought, and screamed herself when the monster bellowed in agony. She screamed even louder when its entire arm came clean off.

It fell to the ground, rolling about, roaring loudly at nothing in particular. It began to foam at the mouth and she inched as far away as she possibly could from it. To her shock, the other arm was raised up, and than ripped off, disintegrating into nothing.

She stared down at the armless bear. It seemed rather helpless now and part of her could not help but feel sorry for it. It must have been in so much pain that it had either passed out, or died. Then suddenly, its head rose up and again screamed in pain. To her horror, its head came right off and the monster vanished, as if it had never even been there.

She didn't know if she should be relieved or scared out of her wits. How does anything just disappear like that? It didn't seem right. On the other hand, she was safe. For now.

Quickly, she got as far away from the tree as possible. She ran as fast as she could until she ran out of breath, passing various sorts of strange trees and shrubs. It might have all been very pretty if she had the time to stop and look at it.

Finally, when she could not run anymore, she came to a halt. She leaned on a tree as she tried to catch her breath. It was at that moment when she felt the stinging pain in her knee and sat against the tree, rubbing it. She hadn't realized how badly she had been hurt and felt blood oozing from between her fingers. In pain, she almost didn't realize that the bat creature was standing near the tree, behind a bush, watching her.

A few moments later, after continuous rubbing and patting, the blood dried to a brownish, sticky, crusty stain. It crinkled her nose at the smell and thought that she might look around for water to wash off the dry blood.

The forest had become very quiet now. The only noise had become the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind or the sound of some strange birdcall in the distance. She sat carefully, as to not get any dirt on her knee, looking around her to the placid stillness of everything. Deep in her gut, she knew that she should look for the others, but then again, she thought, there was no way that she'd find them anyway. She also didn't want to risk being attacked by another digimon.

Maybe, she thought, she should just wait for them to find her, _if_ they could. She sighed, realizing how late it was getting. They had been lost for three whole days. She missed her dad. She missed her mom. She missed Haie, Kat, Detering, Otto, and Tjaden. She even missed Muller. Overcome with an overwhelming sense of loneliness and fear, she began to cry.

As she sobbed, the creature that had been watching her from afar began to come closer. She cried so hard that she didn't even hear its little footsteps advancing towards her. Covering her face with her hands, she let out a cry that broke the silence of the forest, filling it with miserable noise.

It became as if there was nothing else near her, as if the entire forest and its monsters had suddenly faded away with her tears and she was left alone. In a forest this big, no one could have heard her crying, she assumed, even if she did scream and shout, especially not Fenri and Franz, who were probably all the way at the other side of the forest, too far to ever find her again.

After a good few minutes of crying, she stopped, moving her hands from her face and let herself breathe freely. She was so upset that she would rather continue crying, but didn't when she saw the little bat monster standing in front of her.

"Are-are you okay?" it squeaked. She looked at it long and hard. Surprised that it could talk, she figured that should let it talk some more.

She shook her head. "No, I'm lost."

It came closer. "I'm lost too."

She could feel herself being overcome with emotion again and she took a deep breath to prevent herself from crying again. "Can you help me?" she asked it.

"I can try."

She got up and inched closer to it. She was surprised to see that they were almost the same height. "I'm Rochelle." she said.

"I'm Chiromon," it replied.

"Wow, you're really big," she remarked. "Or maybe I am small."

"Or both," Chiromon offered and she smiled.

With that, Chiromon insisted that they hurry along before it got too dark. He told her that he saw that bear-monster chasing her and asked if she was all right. She said yes, and that she had been very lucky.

_**6**_

"Who are we looking for again?" Chiromon asked, looking up at the bright yellow moon. They had finally gotten out of the deeper part of the forest, which Rochelle was rather happy about. However, she realized that she was still lost.

"My brother and my cousin," she answered.

"What are those things?" he asked.

"My family," she explained. She then realized that no one in the village understood what that meant either and simply said, "My friends, I mean. Comrades."

She paused upon noticing his eyes widening when she said that. He began to have an air about him, seeming a bit sad. She thought it best for her not to talk about that anymore. It surprised her when Chiromon asked her more about it. "What are they like? Your comrades. It must be nice to have comrades."

"It is sometimes," she answered, treading carefully past a rock. "Sometimes it's not."

"It's not?" he sounded genuinely confused. "Why not?"

"People get angry at you, and they hurt you. Sometimes it's okay because it goes away, almost like they can't be mad at you anymore," she explained. "People can't be mad forever, but no one likes it when people are mad. It's not nice. It's mean."

Chiromon was very quiet after that.

After a few more hours of walking around, they stopped. She told him that they should wait until the sun was out again so they could see well. And though Chiromon could get around just fine in the dark, he decided to stay with her as she lay under a large, leafy tree.

She yawned, feeling rather tired. After a while, she fell asleep. Chiromon watched her with much interest for a moment, and then nuzzled right by her, falling asleep as well.

Early the next morning, she awoke to a familiar voice. Her eyes opened and she jumped up in delight to find Franz kneeling in front of her. "Fenri! She's here!"

"Rochelle?" She heard her brother's voice calling her. She then heard his footsteps as he ran closer. "Rochelle!"

"What's happening?" she heard Chiromon whimper. She turned to him and introduced him to Franz.

"This is my cousin Franz," she said. "I was looking for him last night. You don't have to be scared of him. Franz, this is Chiromon. I ran into him last night."

Chiromon inched towards Franz nervously as Franz smiled at him. Before either of them could say anything to each other, Fenri came, followed by Penguinmon and Candlemon. "Thank God we found you, Rochelle," he huffed breathlessly. "Haie would kill us if we got back home without you."

Upon hearing this, she lit up. "Why? Did you find a way back home yet?"

"No," Franz admitted. "No, we're still gonna be here for a while."

"Where were you last night, Rochelle?" Fenri asked. "Why'd you just disappear like that?"

Before Rochelle could answer, Penguinmon and Candlemon screamed in terror, turning back and running off as quickly as they could before Fenri and Franz ran after them. "Where are you two going?" They shouted. "Come back!"

Chiromon made a small, pained, frightened noise as he watched them run away. Rochelle stood, looking to see where they went. "Hmmm," she whispered to herself. "Where did they go?"

A few minutes later, Franz came back, holding in one arm, Penguinmon and in the other Candlemon. "Got 'em," he announced, looking victorious.

"No! _Nooooo!" _Candlemon screeched. "I don't want to die! No! Don't make me go to it!"

Penguinmon began to flap his wings around, squawking loudly as he tried to free himself from Franz's grasp. He raised his beak up and pecked him, causing him to let him go. As soon as he was free, he scurried away shouting, "Sorry Candlemon! It's every digimon for himself now!"

"DON'T LEAVE ME!" Candlemon sobbed, trying to free himself as well.

"You're not going anywhere!" Franz told him sternly, tightening his grip on him. "Penguinmon, get back here!"

"_No!_

"What's going on?" Rochelle asked herself. She noticed Chiromon whimpering at her side. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" she asked, placing her small hands on Chiromon's tiny winged shoulders. He looked as if he was going to cry.

_"What is wrong with you two?"_ she heard Franz and Fenri snarl at the two frightened digimon. After a moment of tedious and arduous fighting, they once again got them under control.

"I'm going to ask you two again," sighed Franz. "What's the matter?"

"It's the monster!" Candlemon cried. "Look! There it is right by Fenri!"

"That's _Rochelle,"_ Franz corrected him. "And him? No; you're lying."

"No I'm not! Penguinmon! Isn't that him? The monster from the village!"

"Yes yes!" Penguinmon squawked. "That's what I have been trying to tell you! Get him away!"

Chiromon hid his face on Rochelle's shoulder. Rochelle held him and looked back at the others. "Him? No, no it can't be. Franz is right. You are lying."

"Why would I lie?" Penguinmon sounded almost angry.

"It's okay, shhh," Rochelle whispered, trying her best to comfort Chiromon. "Shh. Don't cry."

"If you don't get him away from Fenri he's going to kill her!" Candlemon shouted.

"For the last time _I'm_ Fenri!" Fenri suddenly shouted, breaking his stoic silence. "That's _Rochelle._"

"It's going to kill Rochelle, then!"

"No, no it's not. Look at him." Franz got closer to Rochelle and Chiromon. He smiled at the sight of them. It had always been so difficult for Rochelle to make friends, but not it seemed as if she had finally made one. He would not have them speaking negatively of her only friend. "Does he look like he look like he's going to hurt anyone?"

Penguinmon and Candlemon fell silent after that. Not because their minds had changed, but because of the initial shock they felt. They weren't going to listen to them. No, they had just cursed themselves and there was nothing they could do about it now. In a midst of misery and anxiety, both digimon followed along silently, deciding it was best to await their fate.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: _If you are at all familiar with anti-war novels, most namely those written early 20__th__ century, you will understand these terrible references. All Quiet on the Digital Front. Jesus fucking Christ maybe I should have called the story that. Again, I don't own anything. _

Four days had gone by.

None of them knew exactly that it had been four days, since they couldn't tell what time it was. Days seemed to go by so fast that they knew that an entire day hadn't gone by. But something told them that it had been four days. Sometimes it felt like more, as if time was dragging them by, going very slowly and traveling at a rather irritating speed. More often, however, the days seemed to only last a few hours.

On the first day after they met Chiromon, nothing much happened.

On the second day, a strange object fell from the sky, hitting Franz on the head.

On the third day, they were confronted with another enormous monster. It seemed like a black dinosaur and they had just managed to get away from it.

Now it was the fourth day.

Penguinmon told them that the monster was known as DarkTyrannamon. He told them that he was a monster constantly on the lookout for human children to eat. This made Rochelle frightened, and she often held onto Franz in fear whenever she heard any strange noise.

To her horror, they were once again confronted with DarkTyrannamon on the fourth day. This time, however, they were unable to get away from him and therefore the digimon had no choice but to fight him.

"Ice Prism!" squawked Penguinmon, blasting DarkTyrannamon with a ball of ice.

"Woah," Rochelle said in awe. "That's so cool!"

Franz got her and Fenri by the arm and ran behind a tree as quickly as they could. "We gotta get out of the way!" he explained breathlessly.

"Rochelle!" Chiromon cried, and she cried after him. He hurried after her and clasped his little clawed arms around her.

"Penguinmon can't handle him by himself," Fenri screamed as Penguinmon jumped out of the way of an enormous fireball, narrowly missing it. He got back on his feet and again blasted him with another ice ball, which didn't do much damage.

"He's right!" Franz agreed. "Candlemon! Go help them!"

Scared, Candlemon whimpered and stared up at DarkTyrannmon. DarkTyrannamon roared and came closer and closer to the tree where Franz and the others hid. Rochelle screamed as he breathed another fireball and set the tree on fire.

"Rochelle," Chiromon whispered, tightening his grasp on her. "Rochelle, wait here." With that, Chiromon ran towards DarkTyrannamon.

"Chiromon!" she shouted after him.

"Ice Prism!

"Bon Fire!" Candlemon shouted, hitting him with a blast of wispy fire. Chiromon blasted a purple ray at him. All of the attacks made DarkTyrannamon back up a little, roaring in pain. After a moment, he began charging towards the children.

"Run!" Fenri shouted as DarkTyrannamon came closer and closer. The three of them ran as quickly as they could until they came to another dead end: a rocky mountainside. They cowered in fear as DarkTyrannamon lowered his head, getting ready to eat them.

It was at that moment where, unknown to Fenri and Franz at first, the strange objects that had come to them on the second day began to shine. They didn't even realize it until Penguinmon and Candlemon began to change form.

Their bodies glowed until they became entirely different beings. Penguinmon changed into an enormous bird, whose wings would have looked like fire, but its entire body was black and its red eyes shone as it flew up into the sky, getting ready to attack DarkTyrannamon. Candlemon turned into what looked like a very tall man made of fire. His body blazed as he blasted fire to DarkTyrannamon's back.

DarkTyrannamon, who was just about to open his mouth and force the children in, felt the fire on his back and again roared in pain. He opened his mouth and out came more fire, setting the trees and everything around him ablaze, yet narrowly missing the two digimon.

The bird flew up high, and then stretched his wings out and balls of fire fell down the earth and on DarkTyrannamon's back and head. And with that, DarkTyrannamon's body began to tremble, and he let out a mighty roar. To their great surprise, his enormous body soon disintegrated.

Before any of the children could move, the black bird landed carefully on the ground by the fire man. And before they knew it, their bodies changed back to their normal, small selves. Now they were safe from DarkTyrannamon, but everything around them was on fire. They were surrounded by huge flames.

"Chiromon!" Rochelle cried, seeing as Chiromon had gotten lost somewhere in the fire. "Chiromon! Where are you?"

"Don't move, Rochelle!" Fenri forced her back. "You'll get burned up, too."

"Where are they?" Franz asked quietly, scanning around the fire for the digimon. He told Fenri and Rochelle not to move, lest they go into the fire and burn up along with the digimon. Placing his arm in front of them, he forbad them to move.

"But what about the digimon, Franz?" asked Fenri, acting more turbulent and restless than ever. Franz kept him in place, and told him to wait and see.

A little while later, they were surprised that the flames had begun to die out, for they had always thought that fire didn't go out by itself but instead continued to burn and spread out. A fire was only supposed to go out when extinguished, not by itself for no apparent reason, or so they thought. They watched as the fire had seemed to wear itself out, as if it had gotten tired or used up all its energy and began to disappear, leaving behind but soot and ashes on black tree limbs, falling down to the earth and dissolving into black dust on impact. Everything in that area had burned up, and for a moment they believed that maybe the digimon had, too. Rochelle whimpered and buried her face into Franz's side, trying her best not to cry, for the child eater had almost gotten her, and moreover, she might have lost her friend. Fenri remained silent, waiting patiently for any sign of life in the ashes. Franz paid half of his attention to the ash, and half to Rochelle as she whimpered by his side.

The three of them shouted happily as they saw Penguinmon limping towards them, followed by Candlemon. They looked very tired and hurt. Penguinmon's feathers looked messy and they were almost all black with ashes. Though they seemed injured, they knew they were okay.

On the other hand, Rochelle was still worried, for Chiromon had not yet reappeared. She knew that he was the only one who had not changed, and therefore had not been able to protect himself. Maybe, she dared to think, he had gotten hurt by DarkTyrannamon. Or worse. But she didn't want to think about that and pushed the thought aside to the corner of her mind and waited, hopeful that Chiromon would be safe and would come back to her as the other digimon had.

"Penguinmon!" Fenri shouted happily, grabbing Penguinmon in a way that looked a bit like an embrace yet was not quite one. "You're okay!"

Penguinmon smiled. "Yes, I am, Fenri," he chirped in a tired voice.

"You were so cool back there! You too, Candlemon! What happened to you guys, just then?" he asked ecstatically, which was uncommon for a boy as quiet as himself. "Why'd you change back?" Just then, a wide smile crept onto his face. "And you got my name right!"

"I have to admit, Candlemon, that was pretty cool," Franz agreed, crossing his arms and smiling. "But what exactly happened back there?"

Candlemon blinked for a moment and then looked down as he gathered his thoughts. "Well, it was the digivolution, I think. But I'm not sure. Am I right, Penguinmon?"

"I think you're right. I think we just digivolved."

"You just what?" asked Franz.

"Well, when we digimon are in danger, and are not presently strong enough to defend ourselves from another digimon, such as DarkTyrannamon, we sometimes need to digivolve like we just did. But it doesn't always happen very easily. Sometimes, we need large amounts of energy," Penguinmon explained, and then looked at Fenri with a small smile on his face. "or a human partner with a digivice."

"A digivice?" asked Fenri. "What? Do you mean this thing?" He took the strange object that had fallen from the sky out of his pocket where he had placed it and showed it to him.

"Well, I have never seen one," Penguinmon went on. "But that's probably one."

"Hey, I got one, too," Franz pointed out, taking out his own digivice from the pocket of his trousers. His looked identical to Fenri's, except that Franz's was orange and Fenri's was a dull blueish purple.

"Did she get one, too?" asked Candlemon, looking over at Rochelle, who was paying them no attention as she continued to look out for Chiromon. "I don't think she did. Is she okay?"

"I don't know. I don't think so," Fenri said, looking at his sister. "Hey, what happened to Chiromon?"

"Umm," Candlemon paused, and immediately Franz could tell that something was up.

"He's back there, isn't he?" he asked. "And you two left him behind? What if he's hurt?"

Though she previously had not been listening to their conversation, she did over hear this. She worried that Chiromon was, in fact, hurt and snuck off to where the ashes and fires burned before Franz could see her.

She carefully made her way past the singed leaves and blackened branches, trying her best not to make any noise that would draw attention to her now that she had gotten this far. She silently hoped that Franz and the digimon would take their time in the heated argument that they had now found themselves in and that it would give her enough time to find her friend.

Not too far from what was left of the tree that had hidden behind a while ago, she found Chiromon, lying unconsciously on the ground with his fur and wings superficially burned from the fire that had been around him. She tired her best to wake him, and she dusted off the soot and ash from his fur carefully and gently. "Wake up, Chiromon," she whispered. To her great relief, he was still alive. He was still breathing. "Wake up, Chiromon, come on."

A moment later, he slowly opened his yellow eyes and smiled at the sight of her. "Rochelle," he said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered just as happily. "Are you?"

"I am, I think." He tried to push his body up. She helped him and after a few tries, he stood again. "Just a little beat up, but I'm okay."

"Good," she giggled, embracing him. At first Chiromon stood spellbound and thunderstruck at this. He had never felt anything quite like this before. He rather liked it, though at the same time he found it very odd. After a second, he wrapped his clawed arms around her affectionately. He had done so before, but before it was out of fear and was simply not the same.

_**8**_

She couldn't sleep that night. Everyone else had fallen asleep already, just not her. Quietly, she looked around at Fenri and Franz, who lay in fetal positions on the soft grass. Pennguinmon and Candlemon had dozed off by them in a sitting position. Chiromon was curled up by her.

She didn't want to sleep. She didn't understand why they had to stop and sleep when they didn't need to and saw that it would have been safer for them to keep moving instead of stopping to sleep where someone or something could easily hurt them. She supposed that she had found in incumbent upon herself to look out for them as they slept. And of course, she didn't mind, especially since she hadn't been able to sleep properly for a while.

So she leaned against the trunk of the tree where they hid under. She sat, looking past the leaves towards the starry black sky, like little dots of white color on black ink that someone had spilt all over the sky. Her grandfather, Tjaden would sometimes tell her about the sky like when it was like that, how he grew up seeing it every night and how it was a shame that the sky had gotten too dirty and polluted for her to grow up the same way.

Looking up at the sky like that made her feel a strange combination of sadness and joy, for she finally understood what Tjaden was telling her all these years, but now she was gone and she might never tell him how she now understood. "I feel as if I am as old as you, Tjaden," she thought. "Sorry, Tjaden. Bye, Tjaden."

When she had first arrived in the digital world, she felt as if she had begun to forget something that Fenri and Franz knew and that was where they were before they were brought here. It was as if she knew, but it was pushed back to the very corner of her brain where she could not reach it. Shutting her eyes tightly, she tried her best to reach for that memory.

_"Tjaden died today. Or maybe it was yesterday. Well, when _was_ it, Kat?"_

_ "Two days ago, I think. He had been screaming incessantly these last few days. I think he finally gave up and died two days ago."_

_ "That's tough, Kat. I'm sorry."_

_ '"Thanks, Kemmerich, we'll try to make the best of it."_

_ "How's your little boy, Albert?"_

_ "Albert's great. Four years old and smart as hell already."_

_ "How are Wilhelm's kids, Haie?"_

_ "They're… Where are they? Fenri! Rochelle! Come here! You too, Franz!"_

_ "Franz, too?"'_

_ "Wilhelm and Otto were _real_ busy."_

_ "Even Eva?"_

_ "All of them, you know now that Tjaden is dead, they have to do around with wills, bills, papers and all that. Preparations, you know?"_

___"Ah, I see. That's tough. How the kids holding up?"_

_ "They're okay. I'm worried about the girl, though."_

_ "Why's that?"_

_ "I don't think she fully understands that her grandfather has died."_

_ "Well, did you explain it to her?"_

_ "Of course I did. I think maybe she just doesn't want to accept it."_

_ "I don't blame her. It's tough."_

_ "Tjaden died today. Or maybe it was yesterday."_

_ "How's that Muller kid? Did he get settled in over at your place yet?"_

_ "Yes he has. He and Franz are the best of friends already. He's real adjusted now, not like before."_

_ "Poor kid. How are you supposed to tell a kid that _both_ his parents done got drafted?"_

_ "I don't know, poor kid. At first he couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. He just locked himself in the room all day. Good old Franz got him out. He's a great kid, that Franz."_

_ "I know, right? I hope my Albert gets to be a great kid like that. Otto's a real good father."_

_ "Isn't he? And he does it all on his own. Too bad his Hilda died a while back. But he's a great brother and Franz is a great kid. Hell, I have my wife and I can't handle my own kids sometimes."_

_ "Fenri and Rochelle are good kids, though. Rochelle. There you are. How come you don't come over anymore?"_

_ "Maybe she's sick. We don't know, she just became all quiet all of a sudden. Didn't you? See, she won't even answer me."_

_ "Tjaden tells me it's Muller."_

_ "Oh, come on. Muller's a good kid. What is he picking on you?"_

_ "Tjaden died today."_

_ "Stop lying, Rochelle. Mom didn't do that."_

_ "What's she going on about now?"_

_ "What did you mother do?"_

_ "See, she won't even tell you now. That's 'cause she's lying again."_

_ "Ever since Tjaden got sick she's been lying all the time…"_

_ "Tjaden died."_

_ "Oh, they're gonna cut off my legs, Rochelle."_

_ "Why, dad! Don't scare the girl like that!"_

_ "Why not? She's gonna see for herself anyway."_

_ "Shh! Don't tell her things like that."_

_ "I'm sure it costs a lot more to fix a guy up than to cut off his limbs, Rochelle, and with the war and now that everyone's all polarized with the politicians, no one has the time to fix an old man like me up. It's an easy fix."_

_ "Dad! Be quiet now! Rochelle! Cover your ears, dear."_

_ "Oh, for Christ's sake, Wilhelm, let her listen. This is good for her."_

_ "Stop it, dad. Rochelle, get out of here!"_

_ "No, no, stay, little _madchen_, stay. Come here and sit on my lap before they cut that off, too. You know, this happened to an old buddy of mine years ago in the war. But I mean, jeez, poor guy. They just went ahead and chopped off everything. I bet them doctors had a bet on."_

_ "Dad!"_

_ "Get away, Wilhelm. Now, Rochelle. Don't let them take my legs. Not my legs, too. Why, sometimes I look at you and I wonder, why won't they cure me? Why, I'm a man with a family, and I want to watch a good little girl like you grow up and be part of your life. I can't do that without legs."_

_ "Dad, look what you did. Now she's crying."_

_ "Stop worrying so much, son. Not get out and leave us be."_

_ "Fine."_

_ "Look at him go, Rochelle. Your father, what a fine man he'd be if he wasn't so damn stubborn. He'd make a great soldier, that Wilhelm. All my sons, out of him, Otto, Detering, Leer, and Kat, I suppose I always expected him to be my little militiaman. But the fool chose a life of politics. Politics! Politicians in the Rommel family. Bah!_

_ "I don't know how to explain this properly to you, little _madchen_, in a way that is precise and yet ginger, but soon I will be without my legs. They're going to cut off my legs. I need those legs to work, but they need to cut them off for work, so I guess life is all dog eat dog. Doctors need to live, too. At least this way, Rochelle, I can live. That disease of mine spread to my legs. Maybe I am better off without them. What do you think?"_

_ "Dad, what are you telling her? Let her out!"_

_ "Quiet, Wilhelm! You said you were leaving. Oh, that father of yours. Come closer, dear. Let me tell you about something. Life for me hasn't been easy. I suppose that's okay. Your life probably won't be no primrose path, no crystal stair either. Let me tell you about when I was young. I done saw things you wouldn't believe. And I-I was so young. I wasn't much older than Franz but when I got out of that war, I felt older than anyone else. Things like that can ruin you for everything else forever. I've been ruined by war. I done seen my friends, all other young men running away from bombs had done gotten their feet blown off, but still they ran on their stumps. I saw a man who had gotten his jaw blown off, leaning out the trench not too far from me, still shooting, what was left of his mouth bleeding all over him and me. One of my best friends at the time got gassed. Boy didn't put his mask on in time. What else? Yes, I saw an enemy soldier, one of his veins had come clean out and he had held that thing in his teeth so he could still shoot and wouldn't bleed to death. I saw another young man, who got blown up by an artillery shell, half his body in the tree, the other half on the ground and I will never forget how calm his face was. Death is truly an odd thing, Rochelle._

_ "I was ruined all those years ago. I was ruined by dead men. Lots of dead men. So many dead men, you wouldn't believe it. That was what ruined me. I wonder what will ruin you."_

_ "Tjaden."_

_ "Wilhelm, what's wrong?"_

_ "_Oh, mein Papa!"

_"Don't tell me, dear. Has Tjaden finally_… passed?"

_"Yes, this morning, he had finally stopped his screaming. He stopped his screaming and… and Rochelle started. Five whole days my father screamed and today, the screams stopped. I went into his room and there he was sprawled out on the bed. The disease got his legs before the doctors could."_

_"I'm sorry. But… Rochelle? Rochelle, stop eavesdropping! Let me and your father talk."_

_ "Leave the girl alone. She knows what has happened better than we do. We cannot keep him in that room any longer. Call the morgue, Eva. Call them. Mein Papa, this is terrible!""_

_ "I will, but should I tell the others?"_

_ "Tell them, and bring Rochelle in here."_

_ "Rochelle, your father wants you. Go inside."_

_ "Rochelle? I need to talk to you about Grandfather Tjaden…"_

Yes, yes, she thought. That's what happened. Tjaden has died. They were going to his funeral. They were at Haie's house, getting ready. And then they… they disappeared. No, she thought. No, no that can't be. If they were gone that means she won't see Tjaden ever again. He was dead and they buried him, and she didn't get to see him one last time. No, no it can't be. She looked down at her clothes. These were school clothes. Black skirt and black sweater. No, they couldn't have been getting ready. She whimpered softly and clenched her fists, feeling tears in the back of her eyes.

No, they weren't going. But there was one thing she had been completely sure of, and that was that Tjaden Rommel had died.

And that was all she knew.


	4. Chapter 4

Note: _In case you haven't been noticing, this wasn't a very serious attempt at a fic. If you don't get it by now, there's just no helping you. Again I don't own anything. Rev up those fryers!_

In the morning, she remaining sitting against the tree and didn't say a word to anyone. She felt as if someone had just pulled out every word she had in her. Even if she wanted to open her mouth to say something, she was almost absolutely sure that nothing would come out. It was like she had gone mute, or worse, had no mouth, no jaw, like the men Tjaden talked about.

When the others had gotten up and went on about getting ready for another long day of pointless wandering, she moved and sat by herself a short distance away from them. She had begun to remember how things were like back home and didn't want any of them to see her cry. In time, however, she felt tears forming in the back of her eyes and knew she wasn't going to be able to hold them back much longer. Careful so no one would notice her, she hurried carefully until she was hidden by a very large tree.

Once alone, she buried her face in her hands and began to cry, softly at first and then she began to sob hopelessly. She wanted to go back home. How long had she been gone now? A week? Maybe more? It had been more, she thought. It just had to be.

After a while, she had stopped crying and became very quiet again. Part of her told her to go back to the others, seeing as she continued to separate from them. They might be worried about her and she didn't want them to worry. Yet another part of her just wanted to be alone for a while.

It was at that moment when she felt something fall on her head. Something had just fallen out of the sky and hit her. She grabbed the strange object and looked at it carefully. It looked like the things that had hit Fenri and Franz a few days ago. Now she had one. Except hers was black. Somewhere deep in her mind she was truly curious about what it was, but it was almost as if the slight blow to the head she had just received had once again triggered her sadness and for the second time that morning, she began to cry.

"Rochelle? There you are. I thought I lost you," she heard a voice say. She looked up and saw Chiromon standing in front of her. "Why are you crying?"

"You wouldn't understand, Chiromon. I can't tell you," she whimpered, rubbing her eyes. She looked away from him toward her little black shoes.

Chiromon frowned. He was utterly confused on why his friend had begun to act so strangely. Carefully, he nudged her as he sat down on the leaves next to her. To his dismay, she hadn't quite reacted. And so he thought again. He remembered how he felt the previous day when she had embraced him and wondered if she would feel the same way if he would do it. He hesitated for a moment, thinking about how Penguinmon and Candlemon screamed at the sight of him and remembered that no one really liked to come near him. There was something wrong with him but he didn't know what. But maybe Rochelle was different. Maybe she wouldn't be scared of him. So he wrapped his little arms around her shoulders and said, "You know, there's a lot of things I can't explain about myself, either."

This had apparently gotten her attention and she turned to him. He smiled at her, hoping it would make him seem a bit more open and friendly. "Like what?" she asked.

"Oh, Rochelle. You don't want to know," he sighed. He hadn't thought of what to talk about this far ahead. Not that he had nothing to speak to her about; he simply didn't not have the right words to manifest all the thoughts swimming about in his head. If he was to tell her everything that was inside of him, than she might become afraid of him. For a moment, he saw the truth in his words. Oh, she did not want to know. She really did not want to know.

"I do. Tell me," she answered.

"You tell me first," he said. "And then I'll tell you."

"Okay," she continued, not sure of what to say. She gathered her thoughts for a moment. "Well, I'm lost and I miss my grandfather. But he's dead. And since I came here I won't be able to see him one last time because I'm not even in the same world as him. I mean how am I going to…" she paused, taking a deep breath. She then realized that she had just let out everything she was thinking and another wave of sadness came over her.

She looked back up towards Chiromon and he looked at her with a look of sympathy in his eyes, though he really had not understood most of what she had just told him. She caught on and explained that Tjaden had been someone close to her that had passed away.

When she finished, Chiromon again nudged at her. "You have the others, don't you?"

She said yes.

"Well, than it can't be too lonely, can it?" he whimpered. "You're not alone."

Then it was as if part of Chiromon that had been dormant, like a light switch turned off was suddenly turned on and without thinking he went on, "I never had anyone, Rochelle. Everyone hates me. Everyone thinks I'm dangerous. I-I never meant to hurt anyone, I really didn't. I was just trying to protect myself, is all."

Now she became confused. "What do you mean?"

And he answered, "You don't want to know, Rochelle."

After they had gone back to where the others where, Chiromon could not get the feeling out of him that he should have told Rochelle what he had been dying to tell her. But no, he decided. Maybe she wouldn't believe him, the way she hadn't believed Penguinmon and Candlemon. Perhaps it was best; he came to a conclusion, that he would find a way to show her his true power when the time was right.

They began to walk away from the tree a moment after that. They were a bit astonished to see how grey the sky had turned and were sure that it would soon begin to rain. They walked along under the trees so that they wouldn't get wet when the rain came, but stayed out of the deeper part of the forest so that they wouldn't get lost. In their hurried desperation, they looked for a place to stay when it did start to rain, but for the longest time found noting of that sort.

After a while, they began to hear strange growling coming from the bushes that surrounded them. All six of them hurried along as fast as they could until they came across a small cave. Each of them hurried inside, crawling down and sitting in uncomfortable positions so that they would all fit. When the time came for Rochelle and Chiromon to enter, they were suddenly distracted by another fit of growling coming somewhere from behind them.

Before they could enter, the sudden growling was accompanied by rustling. And before they could even move to get away, another digimon jumped out at them. It looked like a fiery lion and it roared at them fiercely. Rochelle screamed and inched away. To her surprise and horror, Chiromon did not move but instead went closer to the digimon. She wanted to tell him to get away, but was too terrified to form the words. Inside, Franz and Fenri shouted for her to come inside, but she was frozen in fear and remained in place. Franz ordered for the digimon inside to rush out and help, but to his surprise, Chiromon demanded that they don't.

"Stay there! Don't move," Chiromon demanded, moving ever closer to the growling digimon. "I'll get Lynxmon, don't worry." Chiromon gathered up every ounce of courage in his little body, from the tips on his clawed feet to the ends of his small, almost useless wings, to the tips of his pointed ears until he felt brave enough to face the digimon in front of him. Suddenly, he became rather excited, for he realized this would be the moment where he could show Rochelle what he wanted her to know.

Before he attacked Lynxmon, who was growling viciously at him, ready to pounce at any moment, he looked back at Rochelle and warned her to get away. She snapped back to her senses for a moment and did just that.

Back at the fight, Lynxmon raised its paw, getting ready to swing it down on Chiromon. As it began to lower its paw, it was shocked to have its entire paw forced in another direction, as if by an invisible hand. It tried to pull its paw away, but something was holding it in place, restricting any movement. It looked down at Chiromon, and knew that this little creature was responsible for whatever was happening to its paw. It took a deep breath and roared, a small wave of fire coming through its mouth.

However, before that flame reached down to Chiromon, something had moved its head just in time so that it missed. At this, Lynxmon became very angry and tired with all its might to attack the tiny digimon that stood before it. But again, something pulled on his other leg and the beast found itself standing on its hind legs, seeing as both its front legs were being held up by something. This only raised Lynxmon's suspicions that Chiromon was to blame and did its best to pry itself out of the mysterious grasp that held it in place. It violently wriggled its body until it realized, to its dismay, that there was no way out.

As it turns out, Chiromon was, in fact, behind whatever was happening to Lynxmon. Chiromon held him in place with his powers, which enabled him to move and control things around him very easily. He used this power quite often, seeing as it was more powerful than any other attack he had. It was quite useful to him but also got him into a lot of trouble. He wanted to show Rochelle what he was capable of and yanked again at the beast's leg, this time moving and twisting it in such a way that it caused it pain and it let out a roar. What happened to Chiromon afterwards is something that he could not help; a sudden, temporary, but dramatic change in his personality. Chiromon took a great pleasure out of hurting Lynxmon, and instead of letting it go as soon as soon as it had enough and would have run away in fear, took his time gleefully torturing it, as if a shroud of darkness had settled upon him, obscuring his view and made him go entirely ax happy.

Rochelle, who was now standing by the foot of the cave, watched in silent horror as Lynxmon's entire left leg came off, as if it had been torn off. She watched in disintegrate into nothing and watched, her eyes wide with terror as the other one began to stretch out. It was going to come off, too. She almost screamed as it did and the memory of this happening to the bear digimon that had attacked her days ago in the forest flashed in her mind.

Finally, Chiromon put the fight to an end and tore off Lynxmon's head. The beast gave one last agonized roar before its head came entirely off and disappeared. Along with it, so did its body.

It took Chiromon a few moments to revert back to his usual state. When he did, he looked back at Rochelle with eagerness, hoping that she had seen what he'd done. To his surprise and dismay, she demonstrated a much different reaction to what he had expected. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off when she made a terrified noise, as if she was holding back cries.

"What's wrong, Rochelle?" he asked, frowning. He had become utterly confused on why she looked so scared and upset when he had tried to protect her and succeeded. Could it be that his only friend was going to fear him for his terrible powers just as everyone else had?

She didn't answer, but only stared at him with a terrified look on her face. He tried to approach her and to explain what happened but before he could, Candlemon and Penguinmon broke into a fit of screaming, shouting out, "SEE I TOLD YOU. WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN? I TOLD YOU. MONSTER. MONSTER. RUN ROCHELLE. RUN. GET AWAY. MONSTER. MONSTER."

Chiromon didn't know how exactly to react to this and simply stood, frozen as he watched them shout obscenities at him. He tried to call to Rochelle, but realized that it would be of no use.

He felt the darkness as it almost settled upon him again, like mustard gas invading trenches. He didn't want it in him anymore and tried his best to convince Rochelle that he wasn't going to harm her. He moved his little feet forward to try and approach her, but was stopped by Franz's shouting. "Get away!" he shouted. "Get away from her!"

He found himself backing up. Fenri began to shout alongside Franz. "Get away!"

He turned his gaze over to Rochelle, who was standing by with the same horrified expression as his. He shot her a look of desperation, hoping it that his message would somehow get to her. By this time, Franz had come out from the cave and ordered Rochelle to run away. Upon hearing these words, Chiromon's heart sank and he looked back at his friend to see if she was really about to leave him. To his amazement, she stayed. She was trembling and looked absolutely horrified, but she had stayed.

"Rochelle?" he asked, almost delightfully confused. He began to go closer to her, ignoring Franz and Fenri's protests and the digimon's horrified shouts. "Rochelle!"

"Chiromon," she answered a bit flatly. "I'm not going to run away from you, Chiromon." He got to her and looked at her for a moment, not sure of what he or she was going to do next. To his surprise and delight, she opened up her arms and embraced him and he happily hugged her back.

It was at that moment where Franz and Fenri realized that they now understood what Penguinmon and Candlemon had been telling them. Chiromon was a monster.

They gave each other a look of dismay and Franz gave Fenri a nod. After that, it began to rain.

_**10**_

Unknown to the six of them, the recently deceased Lynxmon had been part of a large pride of Lynxmon, Now, those Lynxmon were looking for their missing partner. They sniffed about and looked in various places on the forest floor but could not find him.

After a while, they became rather discouraged and went on their way to look for food. They had given up their search right about the same place where the first Lynxmon hid and noticed not too far from them was a cave. They didn't have to go much farther to realize that there was something inside.

Rochelle and Chiromon sat a short distance away, both of them covering themselves with a very large leaf that had fallen from the tree they were sitting under. Chiromon knew better to try to hide in the cave in which he was not welcome, and Rochelle didn't want her friend to be alone, and so she followed him and helped him find a place to hide until the rain stopped. Chiromon noticed Rochelle shivering, and wrapped his arms around her in an effort to keep her warm.

Rochelle wrapped her own arms around him and looked back towards the cave where the others were hiding. She could not help but wonder if Chiromon really was as dangerous as the digimon claimed he was. She didn't want to believe it, but she couldn't deny what she had just seen.

About an hour or so passed in silence. To Rochelle's disappointment, it had only began to rain harder and they sky had begun to darken. It seemed that Chiromon had fallen asleep on her, and she had moved her arms to hold both sides of the leaf. It didn't offer much protection from the rain and she was getting wet.

Back near the cave, the group of Lynxmon had gotten closer and closer. One of them was about to enter when Rochelle took note and nearly jumped, which awoke Chiromon. "What's wrong, Rochelle?" he asked sleepily.

"Look over there!" she whisper shouted, pointing toward the direction of the cave. "Those digimon are gonna hurt Fenri and Franz!"

Chiromon looked over to where she pointed, and took notice of them. He then looked over at Rochelle and noticed how truly frightened she was. He got up and decided to move towards the group of Lynxmon. Rochelle knew better than to call him back, seeing as he could easily hurt and kill them.

Chiromon, however, was feeling very nervous because he decided it was best for him not to use his powers and instead attack them with his other abilities. He knew that he could not win this way, but had no other choice. Maybe, he thought. Maybe this way, he thought, everyone wouldn't be so afraid of him.

He approached them with caution and they all took note of him as he did. Nervously, he shot at them rays of purple. It hit them, but didn't do much damage. The unaffected Lynxmon came closer still and swung their paws at him. Chiromon jumped back, narrowly missing them.

Back under the tree, Rochelle wondered why Chiromon was taking his time and risking getting hurt when he could easily destroy all of them. She watched as the Lynxmon attacked Chiromon, and as he always narrowly missed them and only managed to hurt them a little. She knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer before he got hurt, or worse.

Chiromon had become tired and couldn't keep dodging their attacks. One of them swung down and struck him, causing him great pain. He shouted in agony and she heard it. She had begun to panic and ran towards him, almost slipping in the mud.

Chiromon saw her and panicked as well. "No! Rochelle get away!" But she came closer, beginning to cry.

Suddenly, a bright light glowed from where the digivice was in her pocket. She hadn't noticed it until Chiromon himself had begun to glow. Surprised, Rochelle staggered back and so did the group of Lynxmon as Chiromon's body began to change form.

When the glowing finally stopped, Chiromon looked entirely different. He had turned into a very humanoid digimon much like Candlemon had, except he looked like a vampire.

The Lynxmon and Rochelle stared at him in awe before he shouted and a swarm of bats came from his cape, attacking all of the Lynxmon at once. A few of them disintegrated immediately, and the others roared and growled in pain. Several of the Lynxmon that remained shot out fire at him. Whatever Chiromon had turned into raised its long cape, protecting himself from the fire. The surprised Lynxmon tried to run off, but were hit by a long red ray that he used as a whip.

With that, all of the Lynxmon were gone. Fenri and Franz, who were hiding in the cave, looked out at the vampire that Chiromon turned into. He looked down at them and they rushed back inside. Rochelle couldn't help but to feel a bit scared when he turned back to her. She froze a bit, unable to speak.

"Rochelle?" he asked. His voice had become deep and thunderous. "There you are." He smiled and began to approach her.

Rochelle, still feeling rather scared, backed away until he slipped on the mud and fell on her behind. She looked up at him and he smiled down at her. "It's me, Rochelle. There's nothing to worry about." He grabbed her and picked her up. "Come on, dear. Let's go back to the others now."

He held her and walked back to where the cave was. In his grasp, she still felt oddly panicked. Chiromon had changed and she wasn't too sure that she liked him this way. He was too different. Her mind raced, muddled with too many thoughts and fears to even think straight and she began to feel sick in her fear, as if she wanted to vomit.

Finally, they had come to the entrance of the cave. It was also at the time that Rochelle noticed that it had finally stopped raining. He placed her down in front of the cave and almost immediately Franz came out. "Rochelle!" he sighed, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Oh my God, are you okay?"

"I'm okay," she answered, a bit shaken.

Fenri then came from the cave as well. "Rochelle, is that… Chiromon?"

She turned back. "I guess so. _Are_ you Chiromon?"

The vampire smiled. "In a way, yes I am. But in another, more accurate way, I am now Myotismon, dear."

"Oh," she answered and then turned back to Fenri. "Well that explains it."

"Did you… what did Penguinmon call it?" Franz asked.

"Digivolve!" Penguinmon shouted from inside the cave.

"Yeah. That," he said. "Did that happen to you?"

"Yes, I suppose it did happen," Myotismon explained. "But I see it happened a little differently to me than it did to those two." He pointed at the cave.

"What do you mean?" Rochelle asked.

"Well, when they had digivolved, they turned into their champion forms. When it happened to me, I turned into my ultimate form, which a level right above champion. Why this happened to me this way, I can't explain. But it did, but I wonder how it happened." He looked down at Rochelle. "Rochelle, my dear, did you ever find one of those digivices that Fenri and Franz have?"

"Oh, yeah. I did," she answered, looking into her pocket and pulling out the black object. She handed it to him.

"Yes, yes. This is one."

"What are those things for, exactly?" Franz couldn't help but ask.

"They're to help a digimon with a human partner digivolve, or so I believe," he explained, handing the digivice back to Rochelle. "Which I suppose makes you my partner, Rochelle."

"And that would mean," Fenri said to himself. "Penguinmon is _my_ partner and Candlemon is _Franz's."_

Several hours later, Myotismon reverted back to Chiromon. It was getting late and the entire sky had turned dark. It was, however, a different type of dark that they were used to. It had turned a strange, pinkish purple and didn't really seem to be night at all.

They all found themselves looking up at the sky, feeling rather nervous. Something strange was going to happen. They knew it.


	5. Chapter 5

_It's like every bad anime put together into one hideous beast. _

All six of them had the greatest surprise upon waking up that morning. Rochelle opened her eyes to bright sunlight, which was not obscured by trees. She could feel herself lying on grass. She wasn't completely aware that they were someplace different from the night before and she didn't realize it until she stood up.

"Fenri! Franz, wake up!" she shouted, poking their sleeping bodies. "Look! Look!"

Franz awoke first, his eyes wide to the sunshine and familiarity of the place where they now were. "Oh my God, are we _home?_"

"I think we are. Fenri! Wake up!"

An hour or so then passed. Fenri had woken up since then, and was equally surprised to discover that they had returned to Haie's house. To their even greater surprise, the digimon were still with them, all three of them lying asleep on the grass. When they woke up, they told them that it appeared that they were back home, and Rochelle ran into the house, looking for Haie.

"Haie!" she called, running inside. "Haie, we're back, Haie!"

"Alright, Rochelle!" he called back, surprisingly calm. "I'm in here!"

She followed his voice into his living room, passing the plainly decorated walls and halls of his equally plain house. As boring as they always seemed, she was happy to see them again. When she found Haie, he was sitting at a desk, leafing through various papers. Rochelle was almost overcome with emotion upon seeing him, but managed to restrain herself as he began to speak.

"How in the world did you get so dirty?" he exclaimed. "You were only outside a few minutes."

"A few minutes? What are you talking about?" she asked. "I was gone for days!"

He sighed and stood from his desk. He stood in front of her, rubbing his short blond hair as he looked at her with a confused face. "Eva's right…" he whispered to himself. She looked up his thin body and plain clothes and saw the expression on his face. She then decided it was best to keep quiet.

To her annoyance, however, he continued to ask her questions, all of which she didn't answer and she stayed silent. She was about to turn around and leave the room, when she found Franz and her brother standing in her way. Franz, noticing how the conversation had gone between his cousin and Haie, decided it was best to ask _Haie_ how long they had been gone. "Hey, Haie. How long were we gone for?"

"A couple of minutes. Why?" Haie asked, sitting back down at his desk and returning to his papers. "My God, how'd you three get so filthy? I don't got mud near my house."

"Long story," Franz called, leaving the room. Fenri then followed. They returned to the digimon, who were waiting patiently outside. Franz noticed that something was bothering Rochelle and went by to sit with her. "What's wrong, Rochelle?" he asked.

She looked up at the sky, which was blue and clear. She didn't quite know how to ask what she wanted to ask because she feared the answer. After a moment, she gathered up all her courage and asked, "Where is Tjaden?"

Franz eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, _where is Tjaden?"_

"Rochelle, you're late."

"I'm what?"

"Tjaden already buried."

"What?" she snapped. "No, no. You're lying! Tjaden isn't dead. He can't be."

"Rochelle," Fenri broke in. "He died over a month ago, remember?"

"No, no, it can't be!" she shouted. She stood and ran, tears forming in her eyes. "No!"

When she had run to the back of the house, she felt too overcome with emotion to go any farther. She fell to her knees and cried. She didn't want to believe that her grandfather had died. No, she thought. They _had_ to be lying to her. It couldn't have been true. It just couldn't.

To her surprise, Chiromon had gone up to her and laid his head on her lap. "Don't cry, Rochelle." he whispered. And she stopped.

She hadn't stopped being upset, however. She just didn't want anyone to watch her cry anymore. What's the point? She thought, people are just going tell her something wrong with her some more.

"Is it Tjaden?" he asked. She only nodded and asked him not to talk about it anymore.

And he did.

A few minutes later, Haie came out and found her and Chiromon sitting in the back of the house. He had his mouth open to say something, but stopped the moment he saw Chiromon.

"R-Rochelle?" he asked, obviously confused. "What in the world is that next to you?"

She froze for a moment and then looked over to Chiromon and then back to Haie. She gathered all the courage in her body and answered, "This is Chiromon. He is my friend."

"I must be as high as a kite," Haie whispered to himself. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Rochelle, but is that thing a big bat?"

"No you're right, he is," she answered, being very blunt and to the point on the matter, "Aren't you, Chiromon."

"Yes, but I'm a digimon, too," Chiromon added.

"See?"

"That thing can _talk_?" Haie gasped, rubbing his hand on his forehead, as if checking himself for a fever. "What in the world…"

"Yes, and Franz and Fenri have them too," she went on. "See for yourself."

"Okay, but come with me," he demanded, walking to the other side of the house. "If I pass out it's your fault, okay?"

"Alright," she agreed. Her and Chiromon then got up and followed him.

"Franz! Fenri!" he called, going past the tree he had seen them last. "Come here you two!"

She could hear them rustling about in the tree and she assumed it was them trying to hide their digimon. A moment later, the both of them jumped off the tree branch, looking very nervous. "What did you want, Haie?" Fenri asked, crossing his arms behind his back

"You two got these things, too?" he asked, pointing back to Chiromon.

"Um, we don't know…" Franz began, but was interrupted when Candlemon fell out of the tree and landed on the grass. "Uhhh. Yes?"

"Come inside, kids," Haie said, "Right now."

And they followed. Haie didn't bother to turn around to see whether the children had been following him; he expected it from them as one might expect one to breathe or blink. The children knew this and decided it was best for them to live up to his expectations. However, Haie hadn't realized that the digimon were following him as well, and gave a long sigh when they had all entered the house.

"Alright," Haie sighed, sitting on his couch. "I don't know that those things are or where they came from, but I don't even care anymore, you damned kids. Just make sure they don't make a mess and that big candle thing doesn't burn my house down."

"We'll make sure of it," Franz answered. "Don't worry."

"Well, it's not me you have to worry about. It's your parents. What are they going to think when they come for you tomorrow and see 'em?" Haie asked, looking at his watch. "Which is something I've been meaning to tell you kids about. Your parents finished all them papers and are gonna come back for you tomorrow morning. So it's getting late, pack up your stuff so you can leave as soon as they get here."

"Fine, come on," Franz sighed, leading them upstairs. "Let's go."

"Hey!" Haie shouted to them before they shut their doors. "Make sure them things don't mess up my house! I swear to God…"

Franz and Fenri both shared a room. Rochelle, being a girl, was given a smaller room adjacent to theirs. She and Chiromon went inside, shutting the door behind them. She then looked for her little bag, which really had nothing in it except for a few changes of clothes.

"Who was that?" Chiromon asked.

"Haie," she answered, folding one of her plain white long sleeved blouses.

"Is he who you were looking for?" he asked, mesmerized by what she was doing.

"Hmmm," she thought for a second, putting the shirt in the bag and looking up at the plain white ceiling, as if the answer she was looking for would show itself up there. "One of them. I was looking for lots of people."

"So there's more?"

"Not a _lot_ more, but yes. There's more."

"Who was that other one you told me about? Tjaden?"

She sighed. "Yes, I was looking for him too. But… he's dead."

Chiromon frowned. He wasn't quite sure how he should respond to this, or if he should respond at all. He decided to remain quiet.

There was an awkward silence then, neither of them sure how long it lasted, that made them both feel strange and uncomfortable, as if they were both strangers in Haie's house. It was a long, humiliating and agonizing moment. Finally, Rochelle decided that she had enough and said, "There. I'm done."

"You're done with… whatever it was you were doing?"

"Yup."

That night, Rochelle couldn't help but feel restless. She knew something was wrong but couldn't exactly point out what it was. She huddled under the blanket, trying her best not to drive herself crazy with all her thoughts running rampant in her mind. Finally, she gave up at around two a.m. and looked towards Chiromon and he looked back at her. His enormous yellow eyes stared back at her like two searchlights,

She wanted to ask him something but nothing would come out. It was as if someone had cut out her tongue. She then clenched her fist. Tjaden and everything he had ever told her had managed to slip into her sub-consciousness and she thought about him even when she didn't want to.

_"And they caught off his tongue. How's a man gonna live without his tongue? Those nasty limeys didn't think of that when they cut off his tongue. And he didn't even die. If you cut off something like that you can at least let the man die. My friend there had a lot to think about now that he couldn't talk. Hell, I bet he wanted to say lots of things now with his tongue that was probably rotting somewhere in the trenches."_

She stared up at the ceiling, wanting day to come. She didn't want to think about Tjaden anymore.

_"A man like that is a cripple, seeing how he can't talk no more. A mute! He's a mute! He had it as bad as those guys you see, the ones without an arm or a leg and all they could do is sell stuff to people that don't want it. There's no point in going through life as a cripple. Last thing I heard was a revolver shot outside one night and…"_

She shut her eyes and covered her ears. She could swear she was hearing his voice. But he was dead. There was no way she was really hearing his voice. His voice grew louder and she pulled at her hair.

She had to stop this.

She really, really had to stop this.

_**12**_

"Alright. Where's Fenri?"

"He's coming, dad. He's in the bathroom."

"Okay," Wilhelm answered, picking Rochelle's bag and taking it to the car outside. As he left, he turned back to her and Chiromon and shouted, "Tell him to hurry up."

She made a mental note of that and waited for Fenri to come out so she could tell him. She was feeling momentarily relieved, for her father didn't make a very big deal out of Chiromon and the other digimon. Wilhelm, on the other hand, was just happy that his daughter finally had a friend he could see. Still, he knew something was not right but decided it was best to think about that later.

Wilhelm Rommel was a tall, muscular man about thirty five years old. He was father to Fenri and Rochelle and Franz's uncle. He always dressed carefully and formally, in a way that even Tjaden approved of. Wilhelm was often seen with his brother, Otto, at protests and meetings. Having worked as their town representative and propaganda minister, he was fairly well known and fairly well liked. There was something about him, something about his neat blond hair and burning blue eyes that always got the best of people. When he was being serious, he had a stare that Rochelle felt could stop an elephant in his tracks.

Now she was wondering if that same stare could stop Chiromon.

A moment later, Fenri finally came out. He asked where Wilhelm was and she pointed to the door. He simply nodded and went out. A second later, Penguinmon scurried after him.

"Where are we going?" asked Chiromon.

"To my house," she answered, looking up at the clock. "We just have to wait until Franz gets back."

She noticed a glow coming from the hall. Immediately after she called out, "Candlemon, why are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding!" he called back.

She let out a sigh. Candlemon seemed to be afraid of everything. It supposed that such a careful digimon was a good match as a partner for someone as careful as Franz. She imagined that they could become very good friends, though she didn't want to imagine how slow they would be to get anything done.

She didn't want to go outside and join Fenri and Penguinmon in the car for some reason.

Fenri and Penguinmon.

They were very alike as well. They were both bossy and arrogant but they tried to hide it, only to come off as more overconfident that they had intended. They weren't bad people, she thought. But she didn't like being around either for too long.

She turned her attention to Chiromon. Why had _she_ gotten him? She then shook her head. _No, no. I don't even want to think about that._

There was a knock at the door. It had been unlocked and with the simple twist of the doorknob, Franz opened the door and let himself in. he was holding a white plastic bag filled with something Haie asked him to get before he left. As soon as he came inside, Candlemon rushed out to him, almost causing him to fall. "Be careful!" he scolded before he went towards the kitchen to find Haie.

After that, she knew they wouldn't be alone with Fenri and Penguinmon for too long and told Chiromon come with her. Before they knew it, they were sitting in Wilhelm's shiny black car. The windows were tinted and it kept the sun out, which Rochelle could tell he was rather happy about.

She looked out the window until Franz finally came out. His shoulder sagged with the weight of his bag and she knew he was tired. She opened the door for him, a favor that he greatly appreciated, and put his bag on the seat and crawled in. A second later, Candlemon rushed out and climbed into the car next to him.

After discussing his usual business with Haie, politics and such things that Rochelle never understood and made no effort to do so, Wilhelm got into the driver's seat and turned the key.

As soon as the engine started, Candlemon moaned in terror. "What's that?" he asked, panicking.

"It's just the car," Wilhelm snorted.

They were all silent after that.

They continued to stay silent until they got home. Along the way, Chiromon had become nervous and hid his face in Rochelle's arm. Candlemon did the same to Franz. Penguinmon on the other hand, made the same unambiguous efforts to look as stoic as Fenri did.

They drove up to their house, a very large building, hid discreetly behind black gates and willow trees. It has an air of indescribable gloominess and melancholy, but in a similar indescribable way, friendly. Wilhelm stepped out to open the gate and then went back in and drove the car inside and parked it without uttering a word.

Rochelle was taken aback by her father's strange silence.

The first thing Franz did as soon as he got out of the car was run inside the house to look for his father. "Dad!" he called. "Dad are you in here?"

"I'm in here, you loud little _junge."_

Franz lit up and climbed the stairs up to the office Wilhelm and Otto shared. Candlemon ran after him. He walked into see his father, Otto Rommel, Wilhelm's forty year old brother. Otto was a man who looked like a man from Wilhelm's paintings come to life to join him in his work. He was his muse; everything a man should be. Every trait, characteristic, quality, feature and attribute all wrapped into one beautiful specimen. He was, in short, the master Aryan, the magnificent blond beast the fuehrer had prophesied. A credit to his family and race, his brother would say. Franz admired him; it was love and respect and admiration at the very highest level yet, he couldn't help but to feel inferior; a nagging sense of eternal inferiority often rang in his ears.

Franz knew better than to hug his father. You couldn't just come up to a man like him and hug him. That was disrespectful, he felt. He walked up to him, stood straight, hoping silently that he looked presentable to him. He bowed a bit, and greeted him, "_Allo, _father."

Otto smiled. "_Allo_, son."

Franz looked up at him. It was at that moment when he realized Candlemon was by him. Neither he nor Otto had noticed until then, and Franz felt it upon himself to introduce them.

"Father, this is my friend. His name is Candlemon. Candlemon, this is my father. His name is Otto," he said, trying to show a respectfully stoic composure.

"Candlemon, is he? He looks very much like a candle. But candles don't move nor do they talk or have eyes. Tell me son, what is a Candlemon?" Otto asked, looking down at Candlemon.

"Candlemon is a digimon. That's all I know, father, really."

"And what is a digimon?"

Franz paused. "You know, father, I've been trying to figure that out for quite some time now."

"Has all the paperwork been done already?" asked Leer, a very tall and very thin blond man who was an uncle to Rochelle, Fenri and Franz. "All the wills have been read. Everything has been signed now, right?"

"Yes, yes it has, Leer," Wilhelm answered, placing in a file in a manila folder. "No thanks to you, however."

"I did my part," Leer shot back, looking rather offended.

"Oh, don't give me that, Leer," Wilhelm scoffed, quickly walking into the next room and back, not letting his change of setting affect his tone. "I was gone a week. You couldn't even watch my damned kids. I had to leave them with Haie."

"Haie's better with those kids than I am."

"Haie's _busy."_

"So?" Leer protested, raising his arms. "Would you really have left the kids with me? I mean, really?"

With that, Wilhelm was silent.

Rochelle and Chiromon were sitting on the floor, watching them and not saying much of anything. Rochelle held her digivice in her hand and was deep in her thoughts. Something didn't feel right, though she had no idea what it was. On the opposite side of the room there stood Tjaden's old radio. Someone had turned it on and the buzzing was making it harder for her to concentrate.

Tjaden's old radio was this big wooden contraption he had since the war many years ago. Everyone in the family was surprised it would still turn on. Though the big ugly machine did turn on, it didn't seem to play anything. It never played any music or news or broadcasts of any sort, the way any other radio would. Even when the dial was switched, nothing changed. Back when Tjaden was alive, he would always deny that it was broken and it worked just fine, though all it ever played was a low, indistinct voice constantly rambling on. No one ever knew what it was saying, since it was covered up by persistent buzzing.

It wasn't buzzing so much this time, though Rochelle still could not make out what it was saying. It was a man, she knew. A man simply speaking to himself. It was always the same man. Always and only the same man.

When she asked what he was saying, no one ever knew. It was Polish, they told her. She had been told German and Polish where similar languages, but she could barely understand what he was saying most of the time. Perhaps it was a different dialect of some outdated regional German, she guessed.

"What is that noise?" Chiromon asked.

"You know, I have no idea."

Wilhelm stopped in front of them. "Rochelle, honey. Get up off the floor."

And she did.

"I'm here I'm here," she heard another familiar voice about a half hour later. "Where are the kids?"

She turned to see Kat taking off his long knee length trench coat and hanging it on the coat rack by the door. A feeling of happiness came over her and she ran up to him. He smiled and embraced her. "How are you Rochelle?" he asked.

Katczinsky was another relative of hers. He was either an uncle or a cousin. No one really knew. Tjaden took him in as a boy and raised him as one of his own children. Rochelle called him Kat, since she could not pronounce Katczinsky.

Rochelle truly loved Kat and Kat had a sort of special bond with her that she didn't have with others. Kat was thirty years old, tall, curly haired and a guerilla. He was serious in a way that seemed realistically kind, which Rochelle loved. He was honest with her and in return, she was honest with him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

She hid her face into his side. She looked up to him. He seemed to have grown older since she had last seen him. On his face there was beard stubble and his eyes were red, showing his lack of sleep. "I'm okay, Kat," she answered. "But I have something to ask you."

He picked her up. "What is it, dear?"

"How long had Tjaden been dead?"

His eyes widened with confusion. He didn't quite understand what she meant by this, but felt it upon himself to answer. "Your grandfather Tjaden has been dead for a little over a month now, Rochelle."

"Oh, I see," she said simply. "Thank you."

When Kat had left the room, she sat back with Chiromon who had the same confused expression as Kat did. "Who was that?"

"That was Kat."

Before either of them could say anything more, there was another knock at the door. Sergey, the family's stout and silent servant, politely answered. It was Detering.

Rochelle was very happy to see him. Detering was another uncle, another one of whom she loved. He was a short blond man, who was the youngest son of Tjaden, and to those who did not know him, was as common as dirt and plain as white bread. He was, to them, the sensible conservative man who would have found himself right at home as a member of the clergy. Detering, however, always wanted a family of his own and never did complete his holy orders. But now, almost thirty his youth had slipped away and was now considered unsuitable for marriage by the rest of the family.

Detering was simple and plain, and she liked that about him.

"That was Detering," she explained to Chiromon as soon as he left the room. "Another friend of mine."

"I see," Chiromon said. He wasn't sure how to react. He had never seen this many people before. He was shell-shocked. Feeling a little nervous, he asked Rochelle to go somewhere else.

They went up the stairs and waited at the top after that. Rochelle looked down so that she could still see the door. She was being quiet, still watching the door in case anyone came. No one for a while so Chiromon found the chance to speak to her again.

"This is the human world, right? How did we get here?" he asked, looking around him to the white walls.

"Pretty sure it is. And I don't know," she answered, not taking her eyes off the door. "I don't even know how we got to the digimon world in the first place."

He frowned and made a noise. This got her attention and she turned to him. "What's wrong? Do you want to go back?"

"No. I don't really. But, it's weird here. It's hard to get used to."


End file.
